Weather News

People sent images of themselves coping with the cold to the ABC Darwin Facebook page.
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Darwin and the Top End have experienced their lowest April temperature in decades as unusual weather conditions saw rain act like an air-conditioner and cause the mercury to plunge.

At 8:15pm on Tuesday the weather in Darwin reached 18.0 degrees Celsius, making it the coldest April temperature since 1948.

At 6:00pm there was a feel-like temperature of 14.6C.

The maximum temperature recorded to 9am this morning was 21.9C at 8:58am, making it the lowest maximum daily temperature for the Wet Season recorded in Darwin and the third lowest on record for any month.

The average daytime temperature in Darwin for April is 32.7C.

Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) senior forecaster Craig Earl-Spurr said the cold weather related to the low pressure system off the NT coast that it was originally feared may have developed into a tropical cyclone.

"The south-easterlies on the southern side of the low were still bringing in quite a bit of dry air near the surface but we had rain coming in from higher up, which kind of worked like an evaporative air-conditioner where the rain coming into the drier air cools that air," Mr Earl-Spurr said.

"It is not something you see very often, so it is pretty remarkable."

People took to the ABC Darwin Facebook page to post photos of themselves wearing winter pyjamas and slippers â€” an unusual occurrence in the tropics.

Fears tropical low will become cyclone receding

The fear that the tropical low would become Tropical Cyclone Frances eased further overnight.

"Overnight it has slowly drifted west," Mr Earl-Spurr said.

"It is looking pretty pathetic for a low at the moment."

Mr Earl-Spurr said if it did regain strength it would be over water as the low drifted towards Western Australia.

Meanwhile the wet weather associated with the low pressure system has seen Darwin edge closer to its second-wettest Wet Season on record.

"We only need about 35-odd millimetres more after the rain overnight to move into second place on the record list," Mr Earl-Spurr said.

"There is a good chance we will get that, there is plenty of moisture around."

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